Teaching Physics to Tibetan Monks,
Vokos Learns Another Way to Instruct
WHEN THE DALAI LAMA, leader of the Tibetan people, invited
Western scientists to teach physics to Buddhist monks, Seattle Pacific
University Associate Professor Stamatis Vokos answered the call.
Over Christmas break, he and four other instructors flew to Dharamsala,
India, where the Dalai Lama lives as the head of the Tibetan government
in exile. There they taught math, physics and genetics in the fourth
workshop in a series designed to prepare monks for coursework in
science, to promote good-will and, as Vokos says, “to slow down the
cultural bleeding to the West by bringing science to the East.”

Cosponsoring
the workshop series are the Sager Family Foundation and the Dalai
Lama himself. “For many years,” the leader explained, “I have been
interested in modern science. Buddhist philosophy searches and establishes
truth through rational thought, similar to that of science. I also
believe that modern science can benefit from Buddhist perspectives.” When
the professors met with the Dalai Lama personally, he smiled and
said, “Lord Buddha has told us many things about the world, and we
would like to know if any of those things are wrong.”

As Vokos taught
the monks, he found learning to be a two-way street. “They are used
to debating heatedly for hours every day,” he marvels. “This is
how they learn, not by listening and writing down what the professor
says.”

For example, the monks argued that shadow cannot be the absence
of light. “If light is necessary to see an object, how can we see
darkness?” they asked. “How can we see shadow, if it has no light?” Vokos
found these perspectives enlightening. With the other physicists
in the workshop, Mel Sabella (Chicago State University) and Hunter
Close (University of Washington), he modified his teaching to capitalize
on the monks’ tradition of debate. “In the Eastern way of teaching,” says
Vokos, “the teacher uses questions rather than answers, like Jesus
did.”

On Christmas Eve, Vokos invited the monks to attend a candlelight
service. To his surprise, nearly all of them came, creating a sea
of red robes in the pews. The next morning, the monks held a Christmas
service for the first time in the Buddhist temple and asked Vokos
to speak.

“If someone gives you 20 minutes to speak about Jesus,” muses Vokos, “what
do
you say?” He decided on the Creation, the Fall and the story of Jesus raising
a widow’s son from the dead. “They know a similar story,” explains Vokos. “A
widow’s
child is sick, and she begs Buddha to heal him. Buddha says she must go back
to her village to find one house that has not seen death. The widow cannot find
one, so her child dies. Jesus’ story has a different ending. I didn’t recite
their story; I just wanted them to think about it in light of this new story.”

From the President
Cultivating hope in the face of chaos is vital today. "This is the time
for a Christian university to dig down deep into its formative foundations … and
decide quite clearly what bread we have to offer,” says President Philip
Eaton.

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